Springtime berries

Just a bit inaccessible for hungry birds, 

this bunch of ivy berries was hanging out of sight under the leaves.  

They look tasty but are not good for humans.

This is one of the reasons ivy is good for wildlife: it keeps its berries through the winter into the spring when other plants berry up in the late summer.

Similarly it flowers late, providing nectar in autumn while most other plants flower in spring and early summer.

And, of course ivy is a good place to shelter for birds, spiders and the caterpillars of the holly blue butterfly in summer.  

You will have seen holly blue butterflies this spring when they choose holly to lay their eggs on.  Later in the year is when they lay on ivy.

Here's one on a hazel leaf.

Stitchwort and campion

So many spring flowers to see now.  Here are two. 

The dainty white stitchwort with a stalk like a single thread. 

The stems are so feeble it needs neighbouring plants to hold it up.

And the red campion.  I can never get the colour right on a photo.  They are really a beautiful rich pink.

Tree of the Day

The fruit on hornbeams is developing already, hanging in tassels on the tree

This tree, next to Grace Lodge in Thornbury, is the narrow or fastigiate form of hornbeam.

And this is a rather special tree today. 

The plaque on the stone at its base tells that the tree was planted by Maggie Tyrrell, the then mayor, to mark the 50th anniversary of V E Day in May 1995.

Mechanical spy fly?

What's this monster crawling out of my compost heap today?

It's a Cockchafer or May bug, a kind of beetle that terrifies people who leave their windows open on a warm May evening as it flies noisily around like the mechanical spy fly in 'His Dark Materials'.

But they are quite harmless.  Good at climbing though with those grippy little feet.  And look at those beady eyes and feathery antennae.

This is what they look like when young.

Photo:gardening helpdesk

VLW

Still waiting to hear what South Glos want to do with Vilner Lane Wood, which is waking up. 

Came across this bunch of Ramsons or Wild Garlic there.

Horse chestnut flower

Better pic of glorious horse chestnut flower

and the red variety

Here are the two trees side by side.  The red horse chestnut flowers slightly later than the white.  It is altogether a less robust tree; the leaves are smaller and more curly than the flatter leaves on the white, so you can tell them apart even when not flowering.

Dawn Chorus

International Dawn Chorus Day was on Sunday but you can still catch it if you are up and about between 4.00 am and 5.00 am.

Here is my aide memoire for common bird calls.

To make it legible I had to enlarge it

and 

to avoid it overlapping with 

previous dates

on the web page

I had to move it down the page

So you will have to 

scroll

down

to see it